Antibiotic resistant genes found in London鈥檚 canals and ponds in CEGE-led project

3 August 2019

Central London鈥檚 freshwater sources contain high levels of antibiotic resistant genes, with the River Thames having the highest amount, according to research led by UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering's Dr Lena Ciric.

The River Thames winding through London with Tower Bridge in the foreground

The Regent鈥檚 Canal, Regent鈥檚 Park Pond and the Serpentine all contained the genes but at lower levels than the Thames, which contained genes providing resistance for bacteria to common antibiotics such as penicillin, erythromycin and tetracycline.

The genes come from bacteria in human and animal waste. When antibiotics are taken by humans much of the drug is excreted into the sewer system and then into freshwater sources. The presence of antibiotics in these water sources provides an environment where microbes carrying the resistance genes can multiply quicker and share their resistance with other microbes.

Project lead Dr Lena Ciric, Senior Lecturer in UCL Civil, Environmental and聽Geomatic Engineering and Environmental Systems Engineering MSc programme director,聽said: 鈥淭his shows that more research is needed into the efficiency of different water treatment methods for antibiotic removal, as none of the treatments currently used were designed to incorporate this."

Read more about the project and hear more from Dr Ciric in the UCL News article:聽Antibiotic resistant genes found in London鈥檚 canals and ponds聽

Image

Credit: Benjamin Davies on Unsplash聽

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